ABSTRACT: David Bollier will speak about the themes of his new book, Viral Spiral: How the Commoners Built a Digital Republic of Their Own (New Press). The book is the first comprehensive history of the “free culture” movement and “sharing economy” that is empowering ordinary people, disrupting markets and changing politics and culture. Bollier will talk about the rise of free and open source software, Creative Commons licenses, the new forms of non-market creativity (Wikipedia, blogs, remix music, videos) as well as fascinating innovations in open science, open education and “open business models.” More about the book can be found at the website http://www.viralspiral.cc. More about Bollier can be found at http://www.bollier.org. Bio David Bollier is a leading American activist, author, blogger and proponent of “free culture” on the Internet and the commons. He is an editor of Onthecommons.org and Senior Fellow at the USC Annenberg School for Communication. Bollier is also co-founder of Public Knowledge, a Washington, D.C., organization that advocates for the public’s stake in the Internet and copyright law, and the author of Silent Theft, Brand Name Bullies, and four other books. He lives in Amherst, Massachusetts.